Blogger and mom Jenny Yarbrough outlines the easy steps for kids to make a natural bird feeder. A little mess, but it provides a fun outdoor project and a treat birds love.

We live in a city, but somehow we managed to end up with a house that has a little bit of a wooded area behind it. We see all sorts of woodland creatures scampering around: baby bunnies, squirrels, and even foxes, but the birds outnumber them all! There are so many birds!

My children and I decided that we wanted to create some natural bird feeders for them, so we went on a pine cone hunt to the end of our street where a huge (I mean HUGE) pine tree resides. We gathered a few large pine cones and headed home.

No mess so far, you may be thinking. Don’t be fooled. We are about to introduce peanut butter into this project. But first the string needs to be tied to the pine cone.

The second step is to spread peanut butter all over the pine cone, trying to get it in the nooks and crannies too.

The third step is to roll the peanut butter pine cone in bird seed. We poured a bunch into a big bowl. Then my youngest son poured a bunch of bird seed onto the porch. More messiness.

The result is a great little snack for the birds in your neighborhood. The birds are able to land right on the pine cone and eat to their little heart’s content. We hung one in our Japanese maple and it was bared within 48 hours!

Have fun with this project, get messy! Let your kids help… this is something that they can do all by themselves. Then sit back and watch the birds come!

This photo was taken last fall. If you look closely you can see the bird snacking away.